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OCA Archivist lectures in North American Orthodox Church history at New York City Cathedral

With the blessing of His Eminence, Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk, Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in the USA, the Young Adult Fellowship of Saint Nicholas Cathedral here invited Mr. Alexis Liberovsky, OCA Archivist and Director of the Office of History and Archives, to deliver an historical presentation in Russian at its weekly gathering on Tuesday August 2, 2011. As is customary, the gathering began with a prayer service conducted in the historic cathedral.

In his presentation, titled “The Autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in America and Church Unity: From Historical Vision to the Present,” Mr. Liberovsky highlighted key people, events, and documents that have shaped the Orthodox Church’s life on this continent beginning with the Alaskan mission in 1794 to the granting of autocephaly to the OCA in 1970. He also spoke of various efforts to unite the Church in North America throughout the 20th century and the current work of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America. A PowerPoint presentation with over 200 historical images accompanied the lecture.

After the presentation, Mr. Liberovsky answered questions from the audience. Extensive discussion on issues and events in the Church’s historical path in the 20th century took place.

In gratitude for his lecture, the young adult fellowship presented Mr. Liberovsky with an icon of Saint Patriarch Tikhon and Saint Alexander Hotovitzky, builders of Saint Nicholas Cathedral.

A photo gallery of the presentation is posted athttp://russianchurchusa.org.

Mr. Liberovsky is available upon invitation to give presentations on autocephaly and other historical topics. He may be contacted at alex@oca.org or 516-922-0550 ext. 121.